Fallout
by Rose Stetson
Summary: What if after Metamophosis, Jack had had enough?
1. Flashback

**Fallout**

**Spoilers for "Metamorphosis"**

"_You are next." Woden said, pointing to Carter._

"_Uh, I think I'm next." He said, realizing that the machine would not bode well for anyone._

"_Nirrti has asked for this one."_

_He didn't even risk glancing in her direction. "And I'm asking you to take me in…"_

"_No." Woden said, using his powers of telekinesis to restrain Jack. A little time elapsed and Jack tried to undermine their surety in Nirrti's deity. "Come!" He said to Sam, tired of the Colonel's desperate attempts at distracting him._

_She looked at him, a sick look on her face. "At least, I'll find out how the machine works." She said before she was forced up the hallway._

"Colonel?"

"Yes, sir?" He asked, looking at the General.

"I asked you if you had anything to add."

"No, sir."

Sam, Jonas and Teal'c were looking at him almost expectantly. "Sir, none of us were there when you convinced Eggar to look inside Nirrti's mind." Sam said, reminding him that he had a vital part of the story to tell.

"_You should not have come here, O'Neill."_

"_Can you undo what you've done to Carter?" He asked, trying to be like Daniel in hopeful optimism._

"_If I choose to."_

"_I let you go once. We made a deal, I honored it." He said, hoping that a sense of responsibility would get her to help them. To let them go._

_The look in her eyes showed that she was finding his desperation amusing. "I told you then I would not have done the same._

"_Fix what you've done to Carter. Let the rest of my team go. That's all I ask. You can do what you want to me."_

"_Yes, Colonel." She said, a faint smile on her lips. "I can."_

"She never put you in the machine?" General Hammond asked, surprised.

"No, sir. Eggar looked into her mind before she had the chance to do whatever she was going to do to me."

"Sounds like you got lucky."

"We did, sir." Jack said, looking at Sam.

"_Wodan…" Nirrti said, clutching helplessly at the invisible force grabbing her neck and lifting her high into the air._

"_Stop." Jack said, trying to be the voice of reason. But even he could only stare in horrified fascination as he saw Carter's last hope beg for her life._

"_I am your god." She said, trying to convince him to let her go._

"_We need her alive. Wodan, she's the only one who can help your people." Jack said, practically praying that would help him see reason._

"_I can make you more powerful than your wildest dreams." It was the last straw. Her neck was snapped, and the goa'uld died alongside the host._

"_Why did you do that?" He asked, staring at the dead body, almost disbelieving that he had killed her. Any other time, this would have been a time for celebration, but…because of this, Carter was as good as dead._

"_She deserved to die." Woden said, a certain hatred in his voice that had only been present earlier toward them._

"_She was Carter's only chance."_

"_Not so, O'Neill." Eggar said, staring straight ahead with an almost superhuman understanding. "Before she died, I looked into Nirrti's mind and took what I needed. Hurry. While there is still time."_

_He didn't need telling twice. He raced down the stairs and Woden opened the gates to the prisons holding Carter, Jonas, and Teal'c captive. He hurried to where she lay, soaked in her own sweat. "Sir." She said, weakly. _

_It was almost as if she was trying to say goodbye. He picked her up easily. She had lost a lot of water weight, and Jack could tell that the end was near. He placed her into the machine, hoping that Eggar knew what he was doing._

"_It is done. You are as you were before." Eggar said, kindly, as he released Sam from the machine's grasp._

"_Thank you." She said, stepping off the pedestal._

_Jack hurried to her side, and placed a tender hand at the small of her back. "Yes, thank you."_

"Colonel, is there something wrong?" General Hammond asked, noticing that Sam was squirming under the intensity of his gaze.

"No, sir…not anymore."

"_And once we get to know each other a little better, I'd really like a chance to study this machine." She said, a gleam of excitement in her eye._

_There was a slight hesitation as Woden looked at Eggar. "As soon as we have made our people whole again, we intend to destroy it."_

_She looked surprised that anyone would even consider destroying this advanced piece of technology. "I mean, but…This is an incredibly advanced piece of technology…"_

"_Carter. Don't you think it would be for the best?" He asked, trying to convey that it would be VERY bad if any of the other system lords were to find the device._

"_Yes sir, I guess it would." She said, conceding to his judgment._

"Well, once Dr. Fraiser gives you all a clean bill of health, you are more than overdue for some personal leave."

"Thank you, sir." Jack said, standing. He left before any of the rest of them had stood.

Sam cast curious looks to Teal'c and Jonas.

"Major, is something wrong with Colonel O'Neill?"

"Not that I know of…" She said, confused.

"Well…I expect not to see you on the base for at least a week, Major." He said, a paternal look on his face.

She nodded with a grin. "Yes, sir."


	2. Resignation

After a couple of minor emergencies that kept General Hammond from his office, he went in, closed the door and sat in his chair. It was his moment to recollect himself and get ready for the next emergency. As he sat, he noticed a neatly addressed envelope on his desk, his name on the front written in Jack O'Neill's handwriting.

He opened it, unsure of what to think.

**Dear General Hammond:**

**I am sure that this will come as an unexpected twist of fate to you, but I am tendering my resignation from the United States Air Force and the Stargate Program. My time here has been filled with wonderful experiences and I have grown with each one, but I feel that at this time, I can no longer perform the work that I am being asked to perform with the objectivity that is required of an Air Force officer.**

**When we let Nirrti go, we did so to save Cassandra Fraiser, and she was allowed to wreak havoc on another entire people. Countless lives are now on my hands because I convinced you in this course of action. Those lives almost included those of SG-1, and for that I am deeply sorry.**

**Even in her final moments, I tried to save Nirrti so that she could help the other members of my team. I was unable to see the alternative that Eggar was able to see. I am grateful that we were able to evade the inevitable disaster that would have ensued by allowing Nirrti to live again, but this is yet another moment in which emotion clouded my judgment.**

**If these were the only two moments in my career that this had been the case, I would be grateful, but the last nearly nine years since the Program first opened are studded with such moments.**

**At this time, I feel that the only responsible thing for me to do is to tender my resignation, and thank you for putting up for my irreverent sense of humor and my momentary insubordination.**

**Colonel Jack O'Neill**

George Hammond stared at the letter for a few moments. Something had indeed happened on that planet that had changed Jack O'Neill. He looked at the phone. It was probably not his place, but…

He picked up the phone.


	3. The Phone Call

"Carter."

"Major, it's General Hammond."

"Sir." She responded, surprised. She was in her car on her way home.

"I'm sorry to bother you on your personal time."

"No, sir…if there's something wrong…"

"There is."

She quickly pulled a u-turn and began heading back to the Mountain. "I can be there in fifteen minutes."

"It's not here at the Base."

"What?"

"Colonel O'Neill has recently tendered his resignation."

"What?" She asked, more loudly in surprise.

"I think it has something to do with what happened with Nirrti. I don't want to have to accept this."

"Of course, sir."

"Unfortunately, I don't think he thinks he can tell me what's really behind this resignation."

Her heart started pounding. "Sir?"

"Major, can you try to make him see reason?"

She nodded, turning around to head toward Jack's house. "Yes, sir."

"And if it doesn't work…I wish you the best."

The line was disconnected and she looked at the phone, confused. What had he meant?


	4. The Fishing Trip

Sam knocked on the door, somewhat nervously. He arrived, dressed in jeans and sweatshirt. "What?" 

"Hi sir."

"Carter."

"You busy?"

"Sorta."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Packing."

"Going fishing?"

"Yep."

She smiled, weakly. "Good for you."

"Something I can help you with?"

"Uh…no…I was just…in the neighborhood and thought…well, I thought I'd just stop by…"

"I see."

They stood there for a moment before Sam turned toward her car. "I don't want to get in…"

"You can come with, Carter."

"Yeah…I heard."

"Heard what?"

"General Hammond told me."

"That you could accept my invitation to go fishing?"

She shook her head. "No…he told me about your resignation."

"Ah."

"So, I guess…I guess I'm here to talk you out of it."

"Really."

"Yeah."

Jack squinted as he looked into the sun, the way he did when he was uncomfortable or bored. "Carter…I have a date with a lake in northern Minnesota…if you're coming, we'll talk on the way."

This took her by surprise and she said the first thing that came to mind. "I haven't packed."

"You coming then?"

"Do you want me to?"

He looked at her for a moment. He motioned for her to enter the house. "Let me get the other pole and chair."

"But I have to…" She began.

"We'll stop by your place on the way. Gotta drop your car off too."

"Right."

She noticed the one suitcase in the hallway, the one fishing rod and the one collapsible chair. "You planning on going by yourself?"

"I was." He called back as he walked down the hallway and then down the stairs to his basement.

She took a deep breath. "I didn't mean to invite myself, sir. Honest."

There was silence as Jack got what he was looking for downstairs and walked up the stairs and back down the hallway. As he set the chair and fishing pole down, he turned to Sam. "If I didn't want you to come, I wouldn't have said you could come."

She nodded. "I know, sir."

"It's Jack."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm retired. You should call me Jack."

"Okay."

They loaded the gear into the back of his truck and hopped into their respective vehicles. As she drove to her home, she realized what she had just done. She had accepted his invitation to go fishing. Her heart pounded. After that encounter with Nirrti, who knew what would happen. She should just back out gracefully, she thought.

But he's not your commanding officer anymore. A tiny voice in the back of her mind said.

She gulped. This was not a time to negotiate morality.

But it wasn't taboo for her to spend some time with him anymore. She shivered as her mind raced with images of activities that they could pursue when and if fishing became too monotonous.

As she pulled up to her house, she looked behind her to see the truck that had followed her, but more importantly, she saw the driver of that truck, and she realized that she was looking forward to this trip greatly.


End file.
